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Domestic Furnishings

Washboards, armchairs, lamps, and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from American households. Large and small, they include four houses, roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more.

The Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000 objects from New England households from colonial times to mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some 3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps, candleholders, and lanterns.

Squat, pear-shaped teapot with a domed, hinged lid topped by a button knop, an S-curve spout ending in a V-split lip, and a hollow, high D- or ear-shaped handle flattened at its lower end. Applied molded rims on lid and body; possible applied motifs on back side of lid and top face of handle. Body is perforated at spout and has a raised foot ring on its flat bottom. Bottom underside is struck incuse at center with a circular beehive mark for "ADELPHI SILVER PLATE CO." bordered by "QUADRUPLE PLATE - / NEW-YORK", and "17" below.

Squat, pear-shaped teapot with a shallow conical, inset, hinged lid topped by a cast leafy ball, and an S-curve spout and hollow, high D- or ear-shaped handle, both decorated with acanthus leaves and graduated beads or pearls. Body has a flat band at seam around belly; eight-lobed upper section and stepped, flat-bottomed lower section. Body is finely perforated at spout. Bottom underside is struck incuse "THE MIDDLETOWN PLATE CO." arched over cross-topped scales and "U.S.A."; incuse number "43" is below.

Maker is Middletown Plate Co. of Middletown, CT. Middletown Plate Co. was founded in 1864 and became a subsidiary of International Silver Co. in 1898; International continued to use the Middletown name and mark until at least 1921.

Ovoid coffeepot with incurved neck and low-domed, hinged lid topped by a cross-and-flared-square finial on four legs ending in lion's paw feet; flat-chased mimosa foliage on body and a curvilinear cross design on lid. Sharply-angled handle, square in section and pinned into thin insulators, has a scroll-ended upper terminal and square-and-scroll lower terminal. Circular lion's masks at top corner of handle, sides of S curve spout and middle of leg mounts and sides of the S curve spout. Convex strainer attached inside body at spout. Underside of flat bottom is struck incuse with a circular mark containing a pointed shield with balanced scales bordered by "MERIDEN / B. COMPANY" in sans serif letters; "PATENT APPLIED FOR" is stamped above and "1877" and "5" are below. From a six-piece coffee and tea service, 1984.0424.13-.18.

Maker is Meriden Britannia Company of Meriden, CT. Meriden Britannia Co. was founded in 1852 and became a subsidiary of International Silver Co. in 1898; International continued to use the Meriden name and mark until at least the 1930s.

Raised circular teapot with double-bellied lower body engraved "SML" in flecked foliate script on a domed and stepped circular pedestal base. Flattened bulbous upper body and hinged lid, which is topped by a cast spherical cluster of fruits and flowers. Cast convex rims of pairs of cornucopias springing from shells at shoulder and top of pedestal; die-rolled bands of matching decoration at opening and base. Hollow S-curve handle sprouts from waterleaf volutes and is pinned into ivory insulators. S-curve spout has a scrolled waterleaf on top and anthemion on belly. Body perforated at spout. Underside of rounded bottom struck above centerpunch "N.J.BOGERT" in raised roman letters in a rectangle. From a four-piece coffee and tea service, 1985.0962.1-.4.